Within the field of music recording, the term “remix” has traditionally been used to describe the process of recombining audio tracks or channels from a recording to produce a new or modified audio recording. That is, performers have long offered “remixed” versions of their songs, wherein producers and/or engineers would recombine tracks previously recorded (or tracks newly recorded for use in the remix) to produce a different recording variation of the same song.
Previously this sort of remixing was done by analog means, wherein separately recorded analog tape tracks which might contain, by way of example, different instruments or instrument groups, were rebalanced and/or filtered and recombined onto a traditional stereo tape. Additionally, skilled audio engineers might physically cut the recording into pieces and reassemble the pieces (typically by taping them together) so that the resulting composition played in a different order.
Today, however, new technologies have been developed which make it possible for end-users to remix songs using their personal computers. The advent of the digital music (as might be found recorded, for example, on audio CD's, found within MP3 files, etc.) combined with sophisticated software to manipulate same, have opened up a new possibilities for the professional and non-professional user.
As a specific example, many of the computer programs that allow a user to manipulate digital music now provide for “interactive remixing”. Remixing in the modern sense includes, not just the formation of static rearrangements of an existing musical work, but also the production of more dynamic creations, wherein a user “plays along” with a recording created by another and adds, for example, drum hits, scratches, etc., to the original performance, the composite being termed a “remix” of the original. Obviously, this same technology can be easily adapted to also allow a user to create a new song, if that were to be desired.
One problem with conventional remixes is that the amount of space necessary to store each remix is the same as (or even larger than) the original song. The user might want to have many remixes of a song stored on disk during the process of creating a “best” mix according to the user's taste. However, if the user desires to store multiple remixes of the same song, multiple large digital recording files must be stored for each mix. (For example, in the case of MP3 files, about 1 meg per minute of recorded song must be stored). Further, if the user would want to share such a remix with a friend, it would be necessary to transfer the entire digital file to the other user, which might make using convention e-mail prohibitive.
Additionally, the aforementioned problems apply with equal force to the remixing of other performance-based digital information. As a specific example, the user who desires to “remix” digital video information is faced with similar transmission/storage problems. That is, the user who wishes to create a new video “composition” from an existing one, must extract sections of the video, reorder those sections, and then write the entire rearranged “mix” of video information back to storage. As before, if the user wanted to create multiple “arrangements” of the video work, each such work would necessarily be separately stored in its entirety, which would require multiple megabytes of storage. Similarly, if that user desired to send the new video work to another user, the full digital work would need to be transmitted.
Thus, what is needed is a method of storing a remix of a digital work that offers significant compression over that currently available. Additionally, the method should create a remix file that may be separately stored and transmitted, independent from the underlying musical or video work from which it was assembled.
Heretofore, as is well known in the music and video industries, there has been a need for an invention to address and solve the above-described problems. Accordingly, it should now be recognized, as was recognized by the present inventors, that there exists, and has existed for some time, a very real need for a device that would address and solve the above-described problems.
Before proceeding to a description of the present invention, however, it should be noted and remembered that the description of the invention which follows, together with the accompanying drawings, should not be construed as limiting the invention to the examples (or preferred embodiments) shown and described. This is so because those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains will be able to devise other forms of this invention within the ambit of the appended claims.